Now there's your real pollution, Sheila, too blasted many people per million are professional busybodies and dogooders who believe everything tastes better if they piddle in it! -- L. Neil Smith

Tuesday, July 05, 2005

I'm still here

Sorry about the lack of bloggage the last few days. Busy, busy, busy.

First, we had to pick up the kids from their summer camp adventure, which they seemed to thoroughly enjoy--they returned to The Freehold exhausted. They spent a goodly part of the weekend catching up on their sleep, which kind of extended our "parental break" as well--bonus points!

On their return, we made a quick job of laundry (How is it you send them away for 6 days and they go through 9 days of clothes?) and exited town for Camp Freehold, where we spent the 4th of July weekend in the company of friends, sweltering in a Southern summer, dodging thunderstorms while grilling supper each night.

There were a large number of veterans present. They were easy to spot, as many had various t-shirts, license plate or flags advertising their service of choice. The Marines were the best represented, followed by the US Army, Navy and Air Force. I didn't see any Coast Guard this time around. There were also lots of flags, and a parade of golf carts and bicycles, all of which were suitably outfitted in red, white and blue. Everyone seemed to thoroughly enjoy the holiday.

Of course, there was a shooting event at the range--what weekend is complete without trigger time? It was primarily a sidearm weekend, and the impromptu contest that evolved was 50 yard pistol shooting from a resting position. None of us broke 50% shooting at a 10" steel target, but as one participant noted, "We'da scared 'im ta death." A couple of the participants tried 100 yards with the same target, but that was a bit beyond our abilities. No one managed a hit after around 20 tries, so we decided that that was enough and called it a day.

However, the biggest part of the slowdown has been computer related. In fact, I'm doing this post at work, since my computer is still sidelined. It's a long story, but it involves new hardware, software upgrades, a computer the probably should have been reformatted (if not outright retired) a while back, and the hijinks that ensue. I hope to have things sorted out in the next couple of days, just in time to disappear again for the weekend.

Either that, or "Dude, it's time to get a Dell!" At this rate, between ammo and computers, I'm going to have to ask for a raise.